Railway to sell perfumed tickets

The railway ministry is in talks some consumer goods companies which are keen to advertise their products like soap, shampoo and perfume on train tickets.

"The modalities are being worked out for dispensing perfumed tickets. To begin with, it may be introduced for monthly tickets and then for other select categories," said a senior railway ministry official.

"There is a technology available to embed the perfume in the ticket. Whenever one touches the ticket, it emits the perfume. The Department of Posts has already launched scented stamps using the same technology," said the official.

"We have an approved policy for advertising on reserved and unreserved tickets. Besides tickets, advertising space is also available on ticket reservation charts as part of the additional revenue generation plan," said the official.

The size of the ticket has been increased from 15 cm to 18 cm to make space for ads. "The aim is to recover the printing cost the cost of the paper on which the ticket is printed.

For companies, it is a major medium for advertisement given the fact that everyday about 1.4 crore passengers travel by Indian Railways, said the official.

According to the guidelines, advertisements should not be socially offensive and should be in keeping with public morality.